Launch & Law

Children’s Sermon

Family - Pictures. Don’t expect perfect, but strive to probe

Scripture

Acts 13:46-48 - Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly, saying, “It was right that the word of God be spoken to Jews first. Yet, since you have rejected it and refuse to see the truth about eternal life, we will turn to the Gentiles. Lord Jesus himself commanded us to when he said, “You will be a light to the Gentiles, such that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” When the Gentiles heard this, they began celebrating and glorifying the word of the Lord, and all of them appointed to eternal life became believers.

Engage

As I was drafting part of this message, about a month ago, I had view of a waterfall out my window…from the cafe at Jellystone Resort in Lake Eufaula, OK. (PICTURE) That morning, I watched a drenching rain we rarely get to see in Texas. It occured to me, if I was a droplet of water, what would I think of a waterfall? Would I prefer a boring old life in a dull, non-moving pond? A waterfall exposes water to wind, air, and the forces of gravity. Yet, it’s exciting, beautiful. A waterfall, to me, enlivens my senses. The streams of water fall very similarly down most waterfalls…but I doubt it’s ever exactly the same. Each molecule of water goes through periods of sitting and waiting, falling and crashing, mixing and sitting, then to repeat the process over again.

The waterfall is an illustration of the life of Saul / Paul. We left him last week sitting and preparing, without a whole lot of movement. This week, we enter a waterfall period of radical changes, exposure, excitement, grief, power, transformation, a mind-blowing kind of life.

Friends, following Jesus can be less mind-boring and more mind-blowing!

Encounter

Most kids don’t realize that much of adulting can be quite boring…doing dishes, laundry, folding laundry, feeding pets, etc, etc. Some even find their professions boring and their home lives boring. I hope not everything in your life is boring! That’s not a fun place to be. Some think church is boring. The routine, the music, the dress, the tradition for some can be a bit boring. But it shouldn’t be. For me, the praise music, the hymns, most everything about worship I enjoy…if you truly know how great our God is, his Son, and their Spirit, it’s not boring to praise them.

Paul is a spectacular apostle and his life is anything BUT boring. The same Lord and Spirit that moved in and through him moves in and through us. Paul’s life goes from the gently flowing pond of Tarsus, if you will, to the waterfall of a traveling evangelist.

We left last week with Paul in Tarsus on a long pause…likely busy tentmaking and having conversations with the multitude of people he would’ve encountered in that great city. He might’ve stayed there forever, but God. God sends Barnabas to encourage Paul. In fact, Barnabas’s actual name was Joseph but the other disciples nicknamed him Barnabas…which means, “the encourager.”

Barnabas and Paul have quite a friendship. It goes through big ups and downs over time…I once preached a sermon, and may again, titled, “A Biblical Friendship” based on them. Another time. Barnabas seeks Paul because the church is changing. There’s been a breakthrough in the wall, if you will, between Jew and Gentile. The breakthrough had happened in Antioch (The eastern one, in Modern day Syria) and the early church was still struggling with how to, or not to, incorporate Gentile believers into a predominately Jewish Christian Church. Antioch was an obvious place where this breakthrough might happen. While Tarsus was cosmopolitan and impressive, Antioch was something else. Something around 250K people called Antioch home. Antioch was a massive city of wealth, privilege, and importance. It was obvious that Gentile disciples had been given the Spirit but the debates centered on where to draw which lines. Passions ran high. Barnabas remembered Paul’s conversion, his mission given by Jesus, and he make the journey to go and retrieve him. Perhaps we can better appreciate just how important this journey was to our faith’s, and to the early church’s growth and understanding. Barnabas deserves a great deal of credit.

So, Paul and Barnabas head to Antioch. Paul later calls his separation from his family in Tarsus as filled with great sorrow and endless pain. His tumble down the waterfall and his exciting life brings some grief with it as well…but, of course, he says in many places and many ways that it is more than worth it. Paul’s life is not mind-boring, it’s mind-blowing!

Paul finds in Antioch what Barnabas already knew. A thriving city and a thriving young church. The believers there saw themselves as trans-local and as part of a wider community in addition to having a deep connection to Jerusalem. Even though there were credible threats of a famine coming for the whole Mediterranean, the Antioch church decided to help the disciples in Jerusalem. The church is Jerusalem was really struggling after decades of pooling resources and increasing persecution. Paul and Barnabas then take the gift to Jerusalem…taking Titus with them as a sort of test case. I preached a series on Titus not long ago. Titus is a non-Jew passionate follower of Christ who displays a multitude of gifts of the Spirit. Nobody in Jerusalem doubted Titus’s devotion but they were struggling with traditions…circumcision, food-laws, etc.

You know, this can happen to churches in our day and age as well. How do we still allow traditions, some not all that old, be stumbling blocks for us? Types of music, types of paraments and decoration, what clothing whoever is wearing, how we “behave” in church, etc. Paul, as Jesus knew he would, argues his entire ministry that faith is the single qualifier for discipleship. I died to the law so I might live for Christ, he says. That’s also why he mostly starts in synagogues…due to his past and to his passionate belief in the Messiah and the New Covenant. Very early Jesus communities were heavily dependent upon the powerful presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit…and so, James (Jesus’ brother), Peter, and John end up agreeing with Paul and Barnabas…all the traditions of the law no longer applied to people like Titus.

Then, as recorded in Acts 13, this happens:

Common English Bible Chapter 13

13 The church at Antioch included prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (nicknamed Niger), Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen (a childhood friend of Herod the Ruler), and Saul. 2 As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to the work I have called them to undertake.” 3 After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on these two and sent them off.

Serving in Cyprus

4 After the Holy Spirit sent them on their way, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 In Salamis they proclaimed God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their assistant. 6 They traveled throughout the island until they arrived at Paphos. There they found a certain man named Bar-Jesus, a Jew who was a false prophet and practiced sorcery. 7 He kept company with the governor of that province, an intelligent man named Sergius Paulus. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul since he wanted to hear God’s word. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that’s what people understood his name meant) opposed them, trying to steer the governor away from the faith. 9 Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Saul, also known as Paul, glared at Bar-Jesus and 10 said, “You are a deceiver and trickster! You devil! You attack anything that is right! Will you never stop twisting the straight ways of the Lord into crooked paths? 11 Listen! The Lord’s power is set against you. You will be blind for a while, unable even to see the daylight.” At once, Bar-Jesus’ eyes were darkened, and he began to grope about for someone to lead him around by the hand. 12 When the governor saw what had taken place, he came to believe, for he was astonished by the teaching about the Lord.

This episode not only signifies Paul’s name change (probably because Paul was more recognizable in Gentile world, something akin to Asians or whoever taking on American names) but also launches Paul to leadership status in the growth of the church.

And so, Paul begins a mind-blowing life. Emotional, challenging, exciting, confronting, engaging...

Empower

There’s a great scene in one of the Episodes of The Chosen where Jesus does something weird for a Jew at the time and a few of the disciples challenge him on it. Jesus has a great response that, although not in Scripture, I think is fitting with him…He tells them, “get used to weird.” Are you ready for weird? Or, if not weird, at least not what you’ve been WIRED to be accustomed to? Our job is to reach people in the world through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit may indeed challenge us to some things that feel “weird.” Can you think of some “weird” methods or “weird” people we might reach with the gospel?

Fireworks analogy…individually, we can have explosive sorts of lives…but together? Wow! 900ft x 600ft flag created with who knows how many shells…nearly 286 million pounds of shells used by our country for independence day...

Let’s make following Jesus more mind-blowing and less mind-boring...

Pray